Mr. Speaker. this discussion is about the technical changes to existing illadvised legislation that came through this Congress. not through the Judiciary Committee. but it came to this floor without the due process and the consultation that would come from people on both sides of the aisle that could have examined this and measured the consequences. in fact. the unintended consequences of this legislation. Under current law the President can set the number of refugees. and the Secretary of State administers this. Weve met with the Secretary of State on this. and the definition I provided in my remark of existing law that is wellfounded and welltested says that the refugees meeting this standard can come into the United States under a number of items as agreed to by the administration. generally by the Secretary of State. And a person who would qualify would be a person who is persecuted or who has a wellfounded fear of persecution on account of their race. religion. nationality. membership in a particular social group. or political opinion. These applicants that would come under this standard dont meet this standard that exists under refugee law because the threat is not as great. and they want to open this up for folks that have not faced a threat that is as great. So now the language thats in the bill that we are seeking to technically correct here is language that says. well. what kind of standards do they meet? Well. up to 125.000 of them. perhaps. over this 5year period of this authorization. what do they have to be?
Keywords matched
refugee refugees